Ballet at Dartmouth

The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet performs contemporary ballet works “from 1975 to the present by dance legends Twyla Tharp and William Forsythe and new stars Jorma Elo and Cayetano Soto” at the Moore Theater, Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College in Hanover Thursday, July 9, at 7 p.m. and Friday, July 10, at 8 p.m. (646-2422, $10-$26).

There’s a related free lecture by Professor Thalia Wheatley, called “Setting the Stage: The Intersection of Movement and Emotion,” July 9 at 5:30 p.m. in the Faulkner Recital Hall.

Live at the Hop events continue throughout the summer.

A little help

Nashua is set to host it’s first international sculpture symposium between May 18 and June 8 in the millyards. Five sculptors will create pieces that can be sited in public areas around town. It’s a grassroots effort, and organizers are still looking to raise about $37,000 for the project. Help out by shopping at Barnes and Noble in Nashua today, (Wednesday, May 7). Pick up a Bookfair voucher there to present with your purchase so a donation will be made. Meet Brookline sculptor John Weidman there at a program that starts at 6:30 p.m. He’ll talk about the Andres Institute of Art, which conducts an annual sculpture symposium and has partnered with Nashua for this project. Kids can help create a mural tonight that will be given to a school class in another country and a Chinese dance performance is planned.

New movement

Susan Barnard of Bow, adjunct professor at Colby-Sawyer College, leads NEWDANCEWORKS2008 featuring her pieces, and those of her students, Maddie Lenox and Kristen Peterson, Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26 at 8 p.m., with a question-and-answer session following Saturday’s performance at the Sawyer Center Theatre, 541 Main St. in New London. Students visited the college’s Marion Graves Mugar Art Gallery to connect images with movement. Barnard collaborates with guest filmmaker and sound designer Robert Todd of Emerson College for her work, “UnStable.” The dances also use work by sculptor Andy Moerlein (Barnard’s husband), plus Concord-based composer Sasha Kravitz. Ticket costs range from $5 to $10; call 526-3670.

So much to do!

Here’s a few reminders about performances happening starting April 10, other than those highlighted in this week’s current print issue of The Hippo. See female impersonators sing Broadway tunes in a showcase organized by a real live cruise ship entertainment director in “Broadway to Hollywood Divas, The Encore,” from Miracle Providers Northeast. Entertaining, it should be, plus, ticket admission helps out children whose families are affected by HIV or AIDS. Susan Poulin brings her original play Pardon My French to the Franco-American Centre in Manchester. The Palace Theatre opens their production of A Chorus Line, part of their professional series.

The professional Merrimack Repertory Theatre closes their season with a regional premiere of a “hip contemporary comedy.” In Itamar Moses‘ The Four of Us, a novelist and playwright who are best friends grow apart as they grow up. Discounted previews run from April 17 through April 20 at the Lowell, Mass. venue. April 17 is “pay what you will” night. There’s a post-show forum with the artistic team after the April 18 show.

Also across the border, Firehouse Center for the Arts in Newburyport hosts modern troupe Exit Dance Theatre. They introduce five new pieces in a performance called, “The Cruelest Month.”